Doctoral (PhD) Dissertation OLTAY EDITH 2019 1 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF PUBLIC SERVICE Doctoral School of Public Administration Sciences Oltay Edith From Status Law to Citizenship: The Redefinition of the Hungarian Nation Concept Doctoral (PhD) Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Egedy Gergely University Professor ………………….. Budapest, 2019 2 Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 5 Research Questions and Methods ........................................................................................................ 17 Research Sources ................................................................................................................................... 22 Overview of the thesis ........................................................................................................................... 23 1. DEFINITION OF MINORITIES AND MINORITY RIGHTS........................................................................ 32 1.1 NATIONAL MINORITIES ................................................................................................................... 36 1.2 Minority Rights in the International and the EU Arena ................................................................... 40 1.3 Collective and Individual Rights ....................................................................................................... 40 1.4 The European Union and Minority Rights ....................................................................................... 46 1.5 EU Platforms for Hungarian Minorities ........................................................................................... 52 2. SITUATION OF ETHNIC HUNGARIANS ................................................................................................ 56 2.1 DEMOGRAPHICS .............................................................................................................................. 56 2.2 Common Hungarian Aspirations ..................................................................................................... 63 2.3 Strategies of Survival for Minorities ................................................................................................ 65 2.4 Strategies of Ethnic Hungarian Parties ............................................................................................ 72 2.5 Fidesz and Ethnic Hungarian Parties ............................................................................................... 74 3. PRESERVATION OF ETHNIC IDENTITY THROUGH LANGUAGE RIGHTS .............................................. 77 3.1 PRESERVATION OF THE MOTHER TONGUE ..................................................................................... 78 3.2 Preservation of Ethnic Identity through Autonomy ........................................................................ 90 3.3 Székelyland for Autonomy ............................................................................................................ 109 3.4 Dual Citizenship and Autonomy .................................................................................................... 113 4. NATION(ALISM) CONCEPTS ............................................................................................................. 115 4.1 ETHNIC AND CIVIC NATION ........................................................................................................... 120 4.2 Legacy of Communism .................................................................................................................. 125 4.3 Development of Hungarian Nation Concepts ............................................................................... 127 4.4 From Mosaic to Unified Nation Concepts ..................................................................................... 130 4.5 Nation Concept in Policies Toward Ethnic Hungarians ................................................................. 131 4.6 Debates Over Identity ................................................................................................................... 135 4.7 Different Interpretations of Trianon ............................................................................................. 136 4.8 Interpretations of Ethnic Identity .................................................................................................. 139 4.9 Ethnic Identity in Eastern and Western Europe ............................................................................ 140 4.10 Ethnic Identity of Hungarian Minorities ...................................................................................... 143 3 4.11 Ethnic Minority and Civic Majority? ............................................................................................ 144 5. FROM REJECTION OF DUAL CITIZENSHIP TO TRANSNATIONAL CITIZENSHIP ................................. 146 5.1 TRANSNATIONAL CITIZENSHIP AS NATION-BUILDING AND INTEGRATION .................................. 150 5.2 Dual Citizenship in Neighboring Countries .................................................................................... 155 5.3 Stripping of Citizenship: The Case of Slovakia ............................................................................... 158 6. DEVELOPMENT OF KIN STATE POLICIES .......................................................................................... 160 6.1 PRIME MINISTER OF THE HUNGARIAN NATION ............................................................................ 162 6.2 Prime Minister of the Citizens of Hungary .................................................................................... 164 6.3 Fidesz and Hungarian Minorities ................................................................................................... 166 6.4 Prime Minister of a Unified Hungarian Nation .............................................................................. 169 6.5 Toward Institutionalization ........................................................................................................... 169 6.6 The Status Law ............................................................................................................................... 171 6.7 Referendum on Dual Citizenship ................................................................................................... 178 7. FRAMEWORK FOR NEW STATE POLICY ........................................................................................... 182 7.1 FUNDAMENTAL LAW ..................................................................................................................... 182 7.2 Trianon: Day of National Cohesion ................................................................................................ 187 7.3 Cohesion Through Cooperation ............................................................................................... 189 7.4 Hungarian Nation-Building and Institutionalization ...................................................................... 190 7.5 Law on Dual Citizenship ................................................................................................................. 192 7.6 Right to Vote for New Citizens ...................................................................................................... 195 7.7 New Government Structure .......................................................................................................... 197 7.8 Forums for Ethnic Hungarians ................................................................................................. 200 7.9 Hungarian Diaspora Programs ....................................................................................................... 201 7.10 System of Financial Aid ................................................................................................................ 204 7.11 Economic development of the Carpathian Basin ........................................................................ 206 8. VIEWS ON DUAL CITIZENSHIP IN HUNGARY AND AMONG ETHNIC HUNGARIANS ......................... 210 8.1 PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE NATION .................................................................................. 210 8.2 Hungarian Parties and Ethnic Hungarian Votes .................................................................... 213 8.3 Ethnic Hungarian Votes in Hungary ............................................................................................... 215 8.4 Impact of Dual Citizenship and Voting rights ................................................................................ 217 8.5 Preserving Hungarian Communities .............................................................................................. 220 8.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 222 8.7 References ............................................................................................................................... 227 4 “Since Trianon a couple of times Hungarians in Transylvania dreamed of a society for themselves. They dreamed of a minority community in which they can freely use their language and can cultivate their culture. This idea of a parallel minority society was not about a need by Transylvanian Hungarians to convulsively and irrationally insist on some kind of barbarian visceral identity or to preserve the essence of the nation because